title: “Rotters and Models” subtitle: “Bioinformatics in Microbial Plant Pathology” author: “Leighton Pritchard” date: “28/02/2018” output: ioslides_presentation: css: includes/custom.css font-family: ‘Helvetica’ widescreen: True runtime: shiny —

1. The James Hutton Institute

The James Hutton Institute

• formed from Scottish Crop Research Institute (SCRI) and Macaulay Land Use Research Institute (MLURI) in 2011
• main sites: Dundee, Aberdeen
• also: Glenshaugh, Balruddery, Hartwood
• oversees Biomathematics and Biostatistics Scotland (BioSS)
• University of Dundee Division of Plant Sciences based at Dundee site
• applied focus (policy)

• Hutton Highlights, February 2018

ICS Hutton

Twitter: @huttonics

2. Plant-Pathogen Interactions

A Global Challenge

• feed 9.2bn people (86% in developing world) by 2050
• double food production in 50yr
• food losses to pathogens:
  • 10-25% of planted crops
  • 10% of post-harvest crops
  • (enough to feed >2bn people, 2kcal/day)
• pathogens moving polewards
• severe threats to ecosystem services

• Fisher et al. (2012) Nature doi:10.1038/nature10947: Emerging fungal threats
• “Prediction for Biological Hazards” https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/biological-hazards-prediction
• Bebber et al. (2014) Global Ecol. Biog. doi:10.1111/geb.12214: Global pest/pathogen distribution
• Bebber et al. (2014) New Phytol. doi:10.1111/nph.12722: Global pest/pathogen distribution

Challenges in Scotland

• food security
  • burden, cost of crop disease
  • emerging pathogens (imports, climate change)
• environmental sustainability
  • pesticide minimisation, withdrawal
  • durable resistance via breeding (and/or GM)
• £308m cereals
• £258m other crops (£171m potatoes)
• £264m horticulture

• Outputs from Scottish Farms, 2015-16

Key Potato Pathogens

Soft rot enterobacteria

• Pectobacterium spp., Dickeya spp., Erwinia spp.
• many species, host ranges
• plant cell wall degrading enzymes
• rots plants in field, tubers in storage
• €30m/yr losses in Netherlands
• P. atrosepticum main cause of blackleg in Scotland
• D. solani recently emerged, very aggressive

Potato late blight

• Phytophthora infestans
• Global problem
• estimated $6bn/yr cost worldwide
• UK costs ≈£55m/yr in losses, ≈£70m/yr in control
• requires frequent pesticide application (incl. for organics)
• (related spp. cause extensive damage to trees: larch, oak, juniper)

• Science and Advice for Scottish Agriculture (SASA)

How do pathogens infect?

• Dodds & Rathjen (2010) Nature doi:10.1038/nrg2812 - plant-pathogen interaction mechanisms

How do pathogens infect?

The mechanics are complex: systems-level approaches required

• Block et al. (2008) Curr. Op. Plant Biol. doi:10.1016/j.pbi.2008.06.007 - plant-bacterium interactions